Liverpool remain front-runners as Anfield drama leaves Fulham as most unreliable when leading
The yin to our favourite stat’s yang. Or the other way round, we don’t know.
We all love seeing who’s got the most points from losing positions, but it’s quite literally impossible to look at those numbers without having to also see which silly sods have spaffed away the most points when leading.
It was a relatively slow start, but we’re in full lead-spaffing swing now, with Liverpool the only team left not to have bungled a lead in any way and only five teams remaining not to lose any game in which they’ve led.
Check out the full points-lost-from-winning-positions Premier League table here, along with all manner of other such nerd-pleasing tables.
20) Fulham – 17pts dropped
13 leads, 6 wins, 4 draws, 3 defeats
Saw off Leicester safely enough but were pegged back in the dying moments by West Ham. A previously unbeaten Newcastle were dealt with pretty impressively, mind, while Nottingham Forest’s own unbeaten record also fell to the Cottagers, who then lost for the first time after leading, at Manchester City, and promptly did it again at home to Aston Villa. Couldn’t hold on at Everton, either.
Did hold on against Brentford, in part due to cannily not taking the lead at all until the 97th minute. Took the lead far earlier against Wolves, with disastrous consequences and could not hold two leads against Liverpool after drawing from 1-0 up at home to Arsenal.
19) Ipswich – 15pts
8 leads, 2 wins, 3 draws, 3 defeats
It’s a lot of points dropped at this very early stage but the flipside is that taking the lead in six games is also quite encouraging when you consider the odds Ipswich are up against. Finally held a lead at the sixth time of asking at Spurs, because of course at Spurs.
18) Brentford – 14pts
12 leads, 7 wins, 1 draw, 4 defeats
Deserved home winners against Palace and Southampton either side of a predictably comfy defeat from a trip to Anfield, one in which they didn’t do anything so silly as take the lead. A plan they immediately and bafflingly abandoned at the Etihad, of all places. Did you learn nothing from Ipswich, guys? Come on.
Have now apparently committed themselves to committing the cardinal sin of point spaffers everywhere: taking a first-minute lead. We are working on a theory that teams who take a first-minute lead never ever actually go on to win. Brentford certainly didn’t against Spurs or West Ham, anyway. And a lead taken on the stroke of half-time at Old Trafford soon went the same way.
Then managed to lose at Fulham despite leading after 91 minutes thanks to Harry Wilson’s super-sub antics.
They’ve frequently looked a pretty decent side this season, have Brentford, and nobody has led more games. But there’s no escaping the fact that is an alarming number of points spaffed at this early stage, with more very nearly fumbled against Ipswich as well. And the concern is that this is becoming a trend, with Brentford 20th by this metric in 23/24 and having now dropped 44 points from winning positions since the start of last season. That’s just too many, isn’t it?
17) Brighton – 14pts
12 leads, 6 wins, 4 draws, 2 defeats
Gave Everton what is now starting to look like a fairly standard Everton beating before just about emerging without any dropped points against Manchester United. Didn’t lead at the Emirates but did draw, and that is a very decent outcome for anyone there these days. Goalless draw with Ipswich a first real blip, before trailing and leading before eventually drawing 2-2 with Forest.
The early lead taken at Chelsea was swept away in dizzyingly quick-fire style by Cole Palmer, while they turned the tables when silly Spurs rocked up at the Amex at their daft best. Failing to hold their own 2-0 lead in the closing minutes against Wolves was also daft, while seeing a 1-0 lead turn into a 2-1 defeat against Liverpool is more easily explained away. Dropping points from 1-0 up against Southampton when presented with the chance to go second is a bit annoying and then throwing a two-goal lead late on at Leicester was a big bit annoying.
16) Southampton – 11pts
5 leads, 1 win, 1 draw, 3 defeats
Finally went in front at the fifth time of asking, and immediately discovered how painful it can be as Ipswich found a 95th-minute equaliser to kick them squarely in the pods. Foolishly took the lead at Arsenal, who reacted very well to win 3-1, and even more foolishly went 2-0 up against Leicester before unravelling to lose 3-2 in the second half. Finally made a lead stick against Everton, and showed plenty of heart in a game they eventually lost 3-2 to Liverpool having trailed 1-0 and led 2-1.
15) Wolves – 11pts
6 leads, 2 wins, 1 draw, 3 defeats
Starting to turn things round a bit now after a harrowing start. At one point they had dropped 11 points from winning positions while having just a single solitary actual point to show for it. Produced an admirable 95-minute effort against Man City in which they scored a lovely early goal and were seconds away from a fantastic second point of the season before John Stones broke their hearts and have at least now managed to secure a couple of decent wins.
The concern, though, is that Wolves were excellent by this metric last season and have already now lost more games from ahead this campaign than last.
14) Nottingham Forest – 11pts
13 leads, 8 wins, 4 draws, 1 defeat
They spaffed loads of points last season too but while concerns may still exist you’d imagine Forest won’t be too glum at this stage given the points they’ve kept. The home defeat from a 1-0 half-time lead against Newcastle was a worry at the time, though, showing as it did the first signs of Forest losing the run of themselves. Back on track since, mind.
13) Everton – 10pts
7 leads, 3 wins, 2 draws, 2 defeats
Oh mates. To lose one Premier League game 3-2 after leading 2-0 might be considered unlucky, to lose two consecutive Premier League games 3-2 after leading 2-0 is etc. and so forth. We remain in gobsmacked, bewildered awe that Everton managed to start the season by losing 3-0 to Brighton and 4-0 to Spurs yet still contrived to have things get much, much worse from there. A point at Leicester was something, but even that involved spaffing two more.
Hurrah, then, for the Palace game. A lead defended and a deficit overturned. What a time. Everton, though, haven’t led a Premier League game – or even scored a Premier League goal – since October. It does reduce the possibility of losing points from winning positions to zero, but that probably isn’t all that much of a silver lining, really. Their last fiveresults are 0-1, 0-0, 0-0, 0-4 and 0-0 and their festive fixture list is horrible.
12) Tottenham – 10pts
10 leads, 6 wins, 2 draws, 2 defeat
Never looked likely to take anything but all three points against Everton and should really have been out of sight at Leicester before Jamie Vardy rustled them so. Successive defeats to Newcastle and Arsenal left them teetering on the crisis club precipice, but they extricated themselves from some early unpleasantness against Brentford adroitly enough. Romped to victory in hilarious fashion at Old Trafford, collapsed to defeat from 2-0 up in even funnier style at Brighton, overcame early deficits to thrash West Ham and Aston Villa either side of going down tamely at Palace. Lost to Ipswich, obviously, thrashed Man City, obviously, and then stumbled over themselves to a 1-1 draw against Fulham. They remain forever compellingly, irredeemably Spurs.
11) Aston Villa – 10pts
11 leads, 7 wins, 2 draws, 2 defeats
Were absolutely brilliant by this metric last season – a vital factor in securing fourth place, in fact – so leaking a couple of points from 2-1 up at newly promoted Ipswich and late on at home to Bournemouth was already a bit grating before spaffing all three at Spurs. With two draws and two defeats, they’ve now already surpassed their total dropped points from last season’s 23 leads.
10) Crystal Palace – 9pts
6 leads, 2 wins, 3 draws, 1 defeat
Finally took the lead at the sixth time of asking and immediately showed why they hadn’t previously bothered by conspiring to lose to Everton of all teams. Held a lead against Spurs because of course they did, then led and trailed in the 2-2 draw at Wolves. Led twice but couldn’t see it home in another 2-2 at Villa but did manage to hold a lead for just the second time to inflict defeat on fellow Dr Tottenham patient Ipswich. Leading twice at home to Man City only to draw must have stung.
9) Arsenal – 8pts
12 leads, 8 wins, 4 draws
Declan Rice’s red card set Arsenal down a path to their first dropped points of the season in a damaging draw with Brighton. Never looked in any real danger of being pegged back by Spurs in the NLD after scoring the most predictable goal in the history of all goals, while the Etihad madness neatly incorporated both daft red cards and predictable goals in its madcap recipe.
Came alarmingly close to what would have been a couple of the dafter dropped points you could find against Leicester but pulled themselves back from that particular brink in the end, but were pegged back twice by Liverpool in a slightly frustrating 2-2 draw. Couldn’t get in front at all in defeats to Bournemouth and Newcastle that have dealt their title hopes such a hefty early blow, and were also pegged back at Chelsea.
8) Manchester City – 7pts
10 leads, 7 wins, 2 draws, 1 defeat
Pegged back in successive games by Arsenal and Newcastle to lend what we thought at the time was a deceptive air of heady danger to the title race. Defeat at Bournemouth not only saw the last unbeaten record of the Premier League season come to an end but also saw off their status as the only team to have led in every game this season, and since then it’s been really very bad indeed. Did lead against Brighton, but ended up empty-handed. Did not lead, or indeed score, in a truly foundation-shaking pair of defeats against Spurs and Liverpool in which the misfiring champions weren’t just beaten but beaten up.
7) Leicester – 5pts
5 leads, 3 wins, 1 draw, 1 defeat
Might well come to rue failing to close out a 2-0 lead at Crystal Palace, a lead that was cut to 2-1 almost immediately after their second goal before a cruelly late equaliser. Turned the tables on Southampton in truly dramatic style in one of the season’s finest six-pointers so far. Taking an early lead at Brentford’s Gtech fortress was an error, but doing likewise against very silly West Ham was absolutely fine.
6) Bournemouth – 5pts
9 leads, 7 wins, 1 draw, 1 defeat
Pegged back by Newcastle and denied a dramatic late winner by VAR at its most irritatingly, buzz-killingly fussy, but took care to avoid any such disappointment against Everton by very shrewdly only taking the lead in the 96th minute. Also clever to not take the lead against Arsenal until after one of their players had done something stupid to take them down to 10 men. Again. And going 2-0 up against City was definitely a shrewd move too. Lost for the first time from ahead when making a surprisingly common mistake this season: going 1-0 up at the Gtech.
5) Manchester United – 4pts
7 leads, 5 wins, 2 draws
Do you know what Erik Ten Hag didn’t do this season at Manchester United? Drop points from winning positions. What have Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ruben Amorim both done this season at Manchester United? Drop points from winning positions. Makes you think.
4) Newcastle – 4pts
8 leads, 6 wins, 2 draws
Wins against Southampton and Spurs at St James’ Park to go with the come-from behind success against Wolves and a 1-0 home win over Arsenal before an excellent win at Forest. A late Palace equaliser ended Newcastle’s flawless record when leading. It’s still a decent record, with the problem really being the fact they haven’t led more often. They are the only team to get points from Liverpool from a losing position but dropped points from a winning position in the same match.
3) West Ham – 3pts
5 leads, 4 wins, 1 defeat
Finally took the lead in a home game and ended up winning 4-1. The 2-0 win at Crystal Palace was another impressive gem, the less said about what happened after going 1-0 up at Spurs the better, while the victory over Manchester United via that late penalty was certainly… something. Secured another impressive win at Newcastle but a puzzling, dare we say Spursy, season thus far from West Ham has seen them thrashed by Arsenal and bantered right off by Leicester since then.
2) Chelsea – 2pts
10 leads, 9 wins, 1 draw
Gave Wolves a kicking in the end despite conceding not one but two equalisers along the way but couldn’t find a similar response when pegged back by Palace. Didn’t give Bournemouth much time to get back at them, which Everton will confirm was a sensible move, and overwhelmed West Ham and Brighton too. Good win over Newcastle was followed by hard-foughts draw against Man United and Arsenal before further wins against Leicester, Villa, Southampton and Spurs.
It’s all looking pretty good for Enzo Maresca and co.
1) Liverpool – 2pts
12 leads, 11 wins, 1 draw
Ipswich were ground down, Brentford airily dismissed and Man United torn to pieces. And then Forest happened, to the astonishment of all. A routine win over Bournemouth returned the world to its rightful axis. Wolves proved a tougher nut to crack than might have been expected, but job done in the end there, and Crystal Palace were disposed of with alarming ease. Chelsea pegged Liverpool back briefly, but only briefly, while a 1-0 deficit against Brighton was overturned with alacrity. Southampton were eventually seen off but certainly made life hard for Liverpool. Manchester City did not. Then Newcastle did, becoming the first team to nab points from the actual league leaders after going behind.